NABARD to Launch ₹1,300-Cr Funds for Agritech, Climate Start-Ups in 2026

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is all set to launch two new thematic funds, including the ₹1,000 crore NABARD Green Impact Fund (NGIF) and the ₹300 crore NABARD Carbon Fund (NCF), in January 2026. The funds are aimed at supporting agriculture and climate technology start-ups.

Both funds have been developed with technical assistance from Intellecap, a part of the Aavishkaar Group. These are aimed at addressing structure gaps in climate and agri financing.

Speaking on the sidelines of Sankalp Bharat Forum 2.0 in Lucknow, Santosh Singh, Managing Director and Partner, Intellecap said, “Amidst water crisis, we encourage farmers to diversify away from water-intensive crops; however, the transition entails upfront costs. Lowering the cost of finance can help enable this shift".

Singh moderated a session Agri 2.0 – Fields of the Future to explore the transformative journey of Indian agriculture with Maggie Monast, Senior Director, Climate-Smart Agriculture, Environmental Defense Fund, Rajat Vardhan, CEO, ScaNxt, Sanjeev Rohilla, CGM, NABARD, Siddharth Chatuvedi, Senior Program Officer, Agriculture Development, Asia at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Sreyamsa Bairiganjan, Chief of Programmes, Shakti Foundation.

The Green Impact Fund which is being financed from NABARD’s profits will use the interest income to lower borrowing costs for players like state governments implementing climate adaptation projects, such as crop diversification and water-efficient farming.

The NABARD Carbon Fund, meanwhile, will focus on carbon developers and start-ups working on emissions reduction and carbon capture which are capital-intensive and largely underserved by conventional finance.

Currently, the apex institution is also in discussions with institutions such as the World Bank, the Gates Foundation, among others to scale these funds through co-investment.

Scaling Needs Returns

As sectors like artificial intelligence, deep tech, and consumer start-ups attract growing investment, agritech is poised for its breakthrough moment in India. “While higher farm output greatly benefits the consumers and markets with more supply and cheaper prices, the key to achieving success in transformation will be to ensure that farmers see tangible economic benefits that make technology adoption worthwhile,” Singh explained.

There are only 2,800 DPIIT recognised agritech start-ups in India. The Intellecap MD noted that while markets are responding positively to these start-ups, a significant policy push is required to ensure that agri-tech solutions, ranging from precision farming to processing and value addition, can scale on the ground.

 “While research institutions, banks and governments play their respective roles through credit, subsidies and technology dissemination, the market will have to reward farmers adequately as well. Agtechs must work towards higher and more predictable income for farmers,” Singh added.

So far, NABARD has supported more than 300 start-ups. The institution’s total approvals under AgriSURE scheme stand at ₹200 crore. Of this, ₹130 crore has been approved under the Fund of Funds scheme, while the remaining ₹70 crore has been cleared under the Direct scheme. The focus has been entirely on early-stage investments.

Under the early-stage category, including Series A, the typical ticket size ranges between ₹20 crore and ₹25 crore per start-up. Around 600 applications have been received to date, and all supported proposals fall within the early-stage segment.